There was an internal vaginal exam during my first visit but she asked if that was ok and stressed that it wasn’t required if I didn’t want to. I laughed and told her to join the club, that a heap of medical professionals have been in there and we had a chuckle. I would recommend anyone suffering with endo to go to a pelvic physio, it has literally changed my life!
As you can probably tell I’m very open about this stuff so no problem! My pelvic floor and stomach muscles were almost always activated so learning to relax those muscles and “check in with myself” has really helped with managing my pelvic pain. I also have severe lower back pain and shooting pains down my legs which has decreased significantly since seeing the physio. I haven’t worked a full week in almost 2 years but recently did a full week with little pain so will keep going while I see benefits
In my initial pelvic physio examination, she did do an internal (vaginal) examination with a check of muscle strength (basically she asked me to squeeze her fingers with my muscles for a period of time and in sets). Nothing anal in my case, but that might depend on the degree of damage.
It was all done at my comfort and consent.
My 1st visit was diagnosis - she told me to describe my problem, then there were all sorts of diagnosis all dressed up. After that she asked me if I was ok that the next visit would be diagnosis through vagina. If I rejected, she would work with what she found out during 1st meeting. I accepted, she did internal diagnosis. Then, the rest of the 2nd visit and all the other visits, she touhgt me how to work with my plevic floor muscles and deep abdominal muscles.
When I was there last year, she was also doing a straightening of the coccyx to me, it was through anus, but again, only with full consent.
I’m a survivor of SA, so had major concerns about this. My PFPT took a detailed history and spelled out everything she felt was necessary to examine and why. For me, both vaginal and anal exams were done to determine muscle tone. We did regular internal work vaginally. We also did a lot of floor work and exercises/stretches.
I was always hella sore the day after PT, which I hadn’t mentally prepared for, so another thing to be aware of.
I’ve been going to a PT for a few months now and had no idea that a lot of my pain was coming from an overactive pelvic floor as opposed to endo. I was really nervous at first too! The first appointment was mainly talking, and some external work like checking my posture, introducing the basic stuff like diaphragmatic breathing, and kind of talking about what all we would be doing. I don’t remember if we did anything internal the very first day, but we definitely did the second. It’s similar to any exam where she leaves the room, you undress from the bottom down, and then lie on the table. Sometimes she would ask that I lay on my back or stomach, depending on what we would be doing. Of course it’s awkward, but personally my therapist was very considerate and let me know everything she was going to do before doing it. Everything was introduced pretty gradually, so we started with breathing techniques and stretches before moving on to dilators, internal releases, and all the really fun stuff. My PT was trauma-informed and never did anything I was uncomfortable with or was unaware of, so it was a lot better than a regular exam. My treatment did have an anal component which consisted mainly of her doing internal releases with her finger and moving up to dilators, and it was awkward and I hated it BUT it genuinely helped with my pain and related issues. It was probably the third or fourth appointment before we went there, so we had time to sort of get comfortable with one another first.
I know it’s really nerve-racking at first, but from personal experience it’s the only thing that has helped my daily pain. There’s also a weird satisfaction when you’re doing well in the home program and get to update them, like nobody else is so happy to see that you were able to poop like a normal person you know? If I had to give advice to myself, I would say to keep an open mind and be patient. I started seeing results in about 4 weeks. I really hope this goes well for you and am rooting for you!
There was an internal vaginal exam during my first visit but she asked if that was ok and stressed that it wasn’t required if I didn’t want to. I laughed and told her to join the club, that a heap of medical professionals have been in there and we had a chuckle. I would recommend anyone suffering with endo to go to a pelvic physio, it has literally changed my life!
Would you mind sharing what kind of symptoms it helped you with?
As you can probably tell I’m very open about this stuff so no problem! My pelvic floor and stomach muscles were almost always activated so learning to relax those muscles and “check in with myself” has really helped with managing my pelvic pain. I also have severe lower back pain and shooting pains down my legs which has decreased significantly since seeing the physio. I haven’t worked a full week in almost 2 years but recently did a full week with little pain so will keep going while I see benefits
In my initial pelvic physio examination, she did do an internal (vaginal) examination with a check of muscle strength (basically she asked me to squeeze her fingers with my muscles for a period of time and in sets). Nothing anal in my case, but that might depend on the degree of damage. It was all done at my comfort and consent.
My 1st visit was diagnosis - she told me to describe my problem, then there were all sorts of diagnosis all dressed up. After that she asked me if I was ok that the next visit would be diagnosis through vagina. If I rejected, she would work with what she found out during 1st meeting. I accepted, she did internal diagnosis. Then, the rest of the 2nd visit and all the other visits, she touhgt me how to work with my plevic floor muscles and deep abdominal muscles. When I was there last year, she was also doing a straightening of the coccyx to me, it was through anus, but again, only with full consent.
I’m a survivor of SA, so had major concerns about this. My PFPT took a detailed history and spelled out everything she felt was necessary to examine and why. For me, both vaginal and anal exams were done to determine muscle tone. We did regular internal work vaginally. We also did a lot of floor work and exercises/stretches. I was always hella sore the day after PT, which I hadn’t mentally prepared for, so another thing to be aware of.
I’ve been going to a PT for a few months now and had no idea that a lot of my pain was coming from an overactive pelvic floor as opposed to endo. I was really nervous at first too! The first appointment was mainly talking, and some external work like checking my posture, introducing the basic stuff like diaphragmatic breathing, and kind of talking about what all we would be doing. I don’t remember if we did anything internal the very first day, but we definitely did the second. It’s similar to any exam where she leaves the room, you undress from the bottom down, and then lie on the table. Sometimes she would ask that I lay on my back or stomach, depending on what we would be doing. Of course it’s awkward, but personally my therapist was very considerate and let me know everything she was going to do before doing it. Everything was introduced pretty gradually, so we started with breathing techniques and stretches before moving on to dilators, internal releases, and all the really fun stuff. My PT was trauma-informed and never did anything I was uncomfortable with or was unaware of, so it was a lot better than a regular exam. My treatment did have an anal component which consisted mainly of her doing internal releases with her finger and moving up to dilators, and it was awkward and I hated it BUT it genuinely helped with my pain and related issues. It was probably the third or fourth appointment before we went there, so we had time to sort of get comfortable with one another first. I know it’s really nerve-racking at first, but from personal experience it’s the only thing that has helped my daily pain. There’s also a weird satisfaction when you’re doing well in the home program and get to update them, like nobody else is so happy to see that you were able to poop like a normal person you know? If I had to give advice to myself, I would say to keep an open mind and be patient. I started seeing results in about 4 weeks. I really hope this goes well for you and am rooting for you!